Question: restaraunt wait times
 

Last weekend I went out to dinner with the wife and outlaws. We were told the wait would be "about an hour" which I think in hostess-ese means "some time between now and when the sun implodes." There was quite a crowd already waiting, so we bailed, found another place and waltzed right in.

How long are you willing to wait for a table? I've found that as I get older, my tolerance for waiting for food has shrunk considerably. For me to wait an hour to be seated, the food would have to be fed to me by naked female Brazilian volleyball players using Christina Hendricks' rack as a serving platter.

If I have to wait more than 15 minutes, I don't wait. It's not worth my time and I won't go back. Some places will take reservations for larger groups. For me it just show a lack of concern for the customer.

We don't go out to eat on a whim or very often so we make reservations at our three or four favorite spots (not all at the same time, of course.). No waiting. Otherwise 10 minutes tops.

15-30 minutes.

Really depends on day / time of day and what else is in the area.

Around here Thurs/Fri/Sat if you show up at a restaurant after 6 it's a guaranteed wait.

If the wait is less than 30 you stay because by the time you hit another place and deal with their wait you have burned more than 30.

Depends entirely on the surroundings.

Warm summer night, restaurant gives you a 'pager' to let you know when tables are ready, drinks readily available........I'll wait an hour.

Crammed into a space with nowhere to sit, pouring rain outside? 15 minutes.

This. Exactly. Good places are crowded. I work the wait time into the equation. Good friends, good family and I can wait a long time.

I eat in a lot of restaurants annually. 15 minutes is my max. I have been known to get vocal when promises/reservations are not kept.

Ian

I go out to eat in Chicago a lot. If you don't plan ahead correctly you will wait at pretty much anywhere worth eating at.

I pretty much abide by HardDrive's guidelines. The most I've waited is two hours, but we had a large group at a hotspot. We went across the street to the bar and got drunk. Made the great dinner even better.

I've actually walked up to tables of people who I've seen pay the check but still sit chatting away for another 10 minutes and politely asked them to leave.

Wow, I'm going to assume that would go over much better where you're from. :)

Without reservations, 15-30 minutes. I appreciate good food, but I'm too impatient and cheap, thus I don't eat out often.

No. Unless I am a guest on someone else's reservation, or someone else who is paying really wants to eat there. There is too much good food here and real crowds are rare. I'd rather eat off of a good taco cart than wait. YMMV.

I don't mind waiting in the bar, in fact I'll wait all evening. Standing, umm, 15 minutes.

To answer the question...if they have a comfortable place for us to stand/sit and enjoy a few drinks we'll wait for quite a while. But ask me to sit on a naugahyde bench next to a sweaty 22 year old while he and his date fight the awkward silence....yea, not so much.

Usually 15 to 30 minutes tops, but I agree that sometimes you have to take into consideration the amount of time it would take to go somewhere else.

you could feel up his date -- might break the silence


be aware that some places deliberately make you wait and offer you a comfortable place for us to stand/sit and enjoy a few drinks at very high cost...

I don't wait.


KT

Usually around 15, and I'll wait in the bar. Unless it's one of those "all you can eat" joints, then I'll wait an hour. Twist up and smoke a few in the parking lot and then it's "Game On"!

I don't wait more than 15 unless they have a pager that you can take for a stroll or a bar that's nice. We don't eat out often and have our favorite places figured out. If we travel and walk into a long wait situation, we go find something else. I get in a very bad mood if my blood sugar drops too far!

G

Hey man. You really need to not do that. That's the nice way for me to say it. SmileWavy


In fact, if you did that to me, I'd immediately order a few bottles of wine and 5 lbs of peel-and-eat shrimp for the table.

The standard line is "15-20 minutes" and if I find it's typically 5-10.

Any restaurant that tells me "about an hour" can suck it. At that point they should be insisting that people make reservations (I'm the type who does).

15-30 minutes tops. We use to wait for a lot longer in our youth. I can't deal with the wait anymore now that we have kids. Around here, almost all restaurants requires waiting.

I absolutely will not wait unless it's seated and with a drink - and then no more than 15 minutes. Under no circumstances would I stand around and wait for a table.

We eat out a lot and always make reservations.

We also make a point of getting to know the staff at our favourite go-to retaurants and this helps.


PS. I also will not stand in line for tickets, or iphones etc. Life is too short to have other people waste your time.

If going out to eat at the weekend without a reservation we always have a standby restaurant in mind in case a long wait time(more than 20 minutes) is proferred by the greeter at the first choice.

The most ticked I've ever been is when I had guest coming to Chicago to celebrate a birthday. I called the restaurant the week before and tried to make a reservation. "Oh, you won't need a reservation, we're very slow that night - just come on in." When we got to the restaurant, we were told a 2 hour wait. I asked to see the hostess who'd refused to let me reserve in advance, who told me "What? This is slow for us..." It's rare that I'm moved to write a company to complain, but for that one I had to. Never heard back from the restaurant, but I've never gone back either, so call it even.

And that's the tricky part - I don't know about the rest of the country, but places that accept reservations in Chicago seem pretty scarce. Being single, I eat out a lot, especially when family's visiting. For the last decade or so, it's been quicker to drive out to the suburbs than wait an hour or more to be seated here in the city. I still end up doing it occasionally, as some people (like my sisters) insist on dressing up and seeing the city; they just people-watch while we wait. The hilarious thing to me is, visiting from KY, they frequently just strike up conversations with strangers and have a grand old time listening to someone's life story. The city's drummed that out of me after 25 years.

I'll wait 15-20 minutes. IMO, nothing is that good to wait hours. I don't go out on weekends. I live in Chicago and I would rather eat out on a Wednesday or Thursday. There aren't as many "tourists" that dine during the week. More neighborhood locals dine and it is not as tense. Wait staff is more friendly.

Anything more than 15 minutes and they are sucking you in for the bar business and I don't like that since I don't drink. It's a screw the customer attitude. I won't go back to those places.

I think places like Cheesecake Factory do this but they also seem to manage the wait time pretty well so it doesn't get beyond 30 minutes or so. I won't go there from now until after the end of the year because everyone is out holiday shopping and they say, let's go to CF, not me. If I can go and no wait then maybe but I'm not waiting.

If I am going out for fine dining I already have a reservation and expect to wait no more than 10 minutes. It does take time to turn a table sometimes. If I have a reservation and am told i will have to wait extended times I will talk to the management about the way they run their business model. Only had to do that once (they were taking walk-ins prior to the reservations).

I generally eat a family owned restaurants where the owners are operating the floor. Sometimes it is their kids waiting the tables. Do not really have to wait in long lines. For some reasons the more expensive chains with poorer quality food and dirty facilities seem to get more business. Just my generic observation.

Groesbeck, interesting observation.

Now that there is an interesting statement, probably reflects on the quality of the cook or housekeeper at the home. It always amazes me that people will eat at some of the shlthole places that charge a bindle for their food and drinks. Lemmings, not unlike voting in our political system.

A lot of folks wouldn't know quality food or a clean facility if it kicked them in the balls.

SW Steak @ the Wynn in Vegas felt my wrath last April. We arrived on time & they ushered us to the bar with a promise of soon. As we sat, I saw the maître d' seat a high-roller & his party who just walked in. I went to the maître d's desk & asked about our table. He made the mistake of telling me 10 seconds & then confirming it when I asked if he was being truthful. I then loudly counted down 10 seconds while slapping my hand on his counter. The whole bar/reception was watching. He let me go all the way to zero & then sheepishly assured me it would only be another 2 minutes. Which it was. But I crossed another Vegas restaurant off the list. A list that gets shorter & shorter every year in that town . . .

Ian

LMAO! coffee out the nose.

If its a nice place down the shore, where I can sit outside, then 30 mins my limit. Any place else, 15-20 Places to eat are a dime a dozen around here. No way in hell would I ever wait an hour or two hours just to eat.

Please do not ever try that overseas. They will escort you out of the restaurant and not be allowed to return.

While I do agree with most of the above comments regarding waiting, America is one of the few places that I have found who try to "hurry people out" to clear a table. Most of the rest of the world you are allowed to stay at a table and chat as you wish.

Yes I know that pushing people out and replacing them with a new group adds to the profit but it also makes people not want to return. Can see both sides to the discussion. I just move on to a place thats not as busy or come at a better time.

One place that I love that does keep you waiting at times is Pappadeaux Cajun seafood restaurant. Love their food and evidently so does a lot of other people because its almost always packed.

IMHO its worth waiting as the food is wonderful and I have never been kept waiting there unless every table... and the bar as well, is chock full.

We eat out every Friday night, and usually a couple of times a week. There are hundreds of NICE places to eat, and thousands of other restaurants. I don't understand waiting for more than 15 to 20 minutes, and that is if there is a comfortable place to wait inside and the place has really good food. There are places in town that have a long wait at 5:00 PM on a Wednesday night. I don't understand it, I sometimes wonder if they put crack in the food to make the customers addicted. The food is not THAT great.

We have several places we like that are family owned restaurants that we can always go to on Friday night at 6:30 and get a table. Why wait in some packed restaurant where the kitchen is in a major hurry to get everything done FAST.

Last night was the wife's birthday. We went to a fancy downtown Italian place that had great food and good service and no wait. As we drove home we went by a local Chili's and there were people standing outside trying to get in. At a freaking Chilli's!

This. We rarely go eat on days/times that there's going to be a wait.

If you don't have a reservation, and you expect good food and quality service from a locally-owned independent restaurant then I think you should expect to wait. And make it part of the evening. After all, I presume you are going out with someone whose company you enjoy.

That sure wouldnt fly around here!!

And a round of the same for the next table that's about to leave...

I have never been kept waiting there unless every table... and the bar as well, is chock full

That's another thing I've never understood - I've been kept waiting at places where there were obviously tables open.

That is when they don't have enough wait staff.